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The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of the agrifood sector as a mainstay of the Spanish economy. During the months of lockdown, the entire food chain (which includes farmers, breeders, fishermen, cooperatives and the food industry, wholesalers, retailers, distributors and logistics operators) had to adapt quickly to secure the population's food supply. In retrospect, it is only fair to acknowledge the excellent response by the whole sector in tackling this challenge.

The US’ tariff hikes of between 10 and 20 pps should have a limited impact on the Spanish economy, less than in other advanced economies, but some sectors could be more affected. 

Spain’s real estate market started to slow down by mid-2022 with the change in monetary policy. For the time being, and despite the fact that the ECB has already raised its benchmark interest rates by 4 bp, the pace of this slowdown is proving to be gentler than anticipated, leading us to improve our forecasts for the sector in 2023. However, looking ahead to the coming quarters, we still expect a marked dip in the number of sales from the high figures recorded in 2022 as well as a slowdown in house price growth, especially in 2024, within the context of higher interest rates for longer. Nevertheless, there are several factors that will continue to support the sector and make a sharp correction such as the one seen in 2008-2013 unlikely, including a resilient labour market and significant inflows of immigrants.

The tourism industry is no stranger to inflationary shock. Tourism-related prices are growing strongly and, specifically, the hotel sector is posting price rises well above the historical average. As is often the case, there is no single reason for this inflation in tourism but rather a compendium of changes in both supply and demand that have resulted in tourists having to pay much more than before the pandemic. In this article we look at the factors that lie behind this episode.

Spain’s manufacturing has been relatively successful in overcoming the impact of the various exogenous shocks that have shaken the European economic scenario in recent years.

The pandemic has highlighted the strategic nature of the agrifood industry as an essential activity to supply the population with food. The sector has therefore been one of the least affected by the crisis: the primary sector's relative share of the total economy increased and the agrifood industry posted a much smaller decline than manufacturing industry as a whole in Q2 2020. Labour market trends have also been relatively favourable, with relatively few job losses and a smaller proportion of workers affected by furlough measures.

The increase in energy prices throughout 2021 as a result of the combination of the sharp rise in global energy demand (due to the reactivation of the economic cycle) and a certain weakness in supply (due to geopolitical problems and the change in the energy model towards non-fossil fuels) has led to a global energy shock. In 2022, the geopolitical context is putting extra pressure on international gas and oil prices, which could aggravate the already significant impact of the energy bill on Spanish industry. This article examines the specific impact of rising energy prices on manufacturing, analysing which sub-sectors are being most affected and to what extent they are exposed to more sustained pressure on energy prices.

The pharmaceutical industry is a key and strategic sector for Spain’s economy, as was clearly demonstrated by the pandemic. In the past 25 years, the sector has become hugely significant and an important driver of Spanish exports and private R&D investment. Nevertheless, its production capacity still has room for improvement. The future of Spanish industry should be more closely linked to the pharmaceutical sector with a commitment to promote its growth, not only for strategic purposes but also for purely economic reasons, since it is an extremely competitive industry with a great capacity to generate good quality jobs that would help to modernise Spain’s economy.